SITTING DUCK: Teemu Selanne would be a great fit as a rental for a Rangers playoff run, says The Post’s Larry Brooks. Photo: AP

If The NHL is only fronting the Devils their own money, then why would the league put a double-secret probation cap on the team’s payroll?

Just as has been the case with Phoenix and was the case with Dallas and who knows how many other franchises where NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly has been consulted regarding personnel moves involving additional payroll, it is shortsighted for the league to withhold approval of deals that presumably would strengthen these wards of the state.

If the Devils, who have been operating under an austerity program that has claimed the jobs of a number of long-time front-office employees, can get Marek Zidlicky from the Wild, it would be penny-wise but pound-foolish for the league to prevent it.

What’s the point of maintaining a franchise that’s too mediocre to fail?

* Twice within six weeks, a Rangers defenseman has been cited for closing his hand on the puck in the crease, an infraction that calls for a penalty shot. Neither time — the first at the Winter Classic, the second on Thursday at the Garden against the Blackhawks in a game not even televised by NBC — was the call substantiated on replay.

A player either closes his hand on the puck in the crease or he doesn’t. There’s no gray area there. That’s a call — unlike goaltender interference, which has become as subjective a decision as there is in the game — that should be subject to NHL video review.

* The Ducks, seven points out of eighth place in the Western Conference as of yesterday morning and with five teams to pass in order to make the tournament, can delude themselves into thinking they’re in the playoff mix, but reality suggests otherwise.

Which is to suggest, yes, Teemu Selanne would look great in Broadway Blue if the Anaheim people and the future Hall of Fame left wing would agree in the next week to a lend-lease agreement.

The Hart Trophy has become a match race: Henrik Lundqvist in the blue silks, Evgeni Malkin in black and gold.

Take it to the bank. Kirk Muller from the Canadiens to the Islanders equals Jeff Carter from the Flyers to the Blue Jackets, which would equal Brandon Dubinsky from the Rangers to Columbus.

* There probably has been no single play in the NHL that has had as much impact on the season as the Rene Bourque elbow to Nicklas Backstrom’s head on Jan. 5 that concussed the center and has cost the Caps their best player, which could cost the franchise a playoff spot and potentially millions in revenue.

“Could be two weeks, could be two months, could be two years,” general manager George McPhee said with a shrug last week when asked if he had any idea if or when the splendiferous pivot would return.

And for his contemptible act of neutral zone headhunting, Bourque got a five-game suspension before being traded from Calgary to Montreal.

It is impractical to tie the length of a player’s suspension to the amount of time his victim is sidelined, but Bourque v. Backstrom is a prime example of the inadequacy of the NHL justice system.

Regarding Evgeni Nabokov, the score is Garth Snow 1, Slap Shots 0.

But wouldn’t the Islanders GM be better served to see just how much he can squeeze from the Blackhawks — who have no chance to do anything in the playoffs with their leaks in net — in exchange for the impending free-agent goaltender rather than keep him in a quixotic attempt to squeeze into eighth place?

What coach in his right mind would decide to play two men short for two minutes rather than one man short for four minutes when given the choice, as was Chicago’s Joel Quenneville at the Garden on Thursday night under an arcane NHL rule that doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense?

Why is the guilty team given the opportunity to choose its own punishment?